Alumni Updates
Updates from our adoptees:
Madra:
Here is a
little story about a cute little chihuahua named Madra who was saved by Bichon
and Little Buddies Rescue. Madra was purchased at a dog auction in March 2009
with her puppy and saved from a miserable life as a breeder at
puppy mill. Madra was extremely frightened at the auction and kept her
head in the corner of her cage while her puppy was draped over her. Her puppy
was adopted a few weeks later, but Madra stayed at the rescue for a year. It
must have been fate that brought her to her forever home. We volunteer and
foster for a
beagle rescue group and we always admired the little chihuahuas that
would come to the pet store at our adoption events. At our event in February I
even said out loud that I will adopt a small breed dog some day! Well the very
next day, our good friend Susan posted a picture of Madra on her
Facebook page and we fell
in love! We adopted her on March 13, almost exactly a year after she came to
the rescue.
Madra
is exceeding all expectations as she settles into her new home with us. She has
only been with us a month but already she has been able to trust us enough to
come up to us, to cuddle with our dogs and let us hold her on our laps. She
does wonderfully walking on leash as long as we have another dog with us.
Sometimes we have to stop and wait for a car to go by or pick her up if we are
going by an especially noisy house (if someone is out with a leaf blower for instance).
She frequently comes in the back door on her own, and when she wont, she will stop for us and let us pick her up to bring her back in. There are days when it seems like she's forgotten what she's learned and she'll get nervous and afraid, but she always warms back up to us quickly. Considering her puppy mill background, we are just so impressed that she isn't cowering in a corner all day long. Everyday is better and better for her and she does little things to let us know she is happy.
We are so glad to have her in our family. She is teaching us a great deal about patience. She reminds us to always have a calm, firm voice with our dogs and not to overreact. Everyday she surprises us in some little way. Just yesterday on a walk she went right up to a young neighbor girl and when presented with an outstretched hand, Madra licked her! We look forward to seeing her grow and trust more and more in the coming years. As for now, our beagle Sally is appreciating Madra's ability to imitate a pillow! We will always be grateful to Patti, Tammie, Susan and all the other volunteers at Bichon and Little Buddies Rescue who saved her and worked on her rehabilitation. They may not have seen it at the time, but all the work they did with her made her transition to her forever home very smooth. Thank you for helping to make Madra part of our family! Brian & Charla Fleming
Lexi
came from a hoarders house in Mauston last June. After a few weeks with us
she turned into the perfect dog. I have never had a small dog, always preferred
large ones, but after having Lexi we will always have a small dog. She has
added so much love and is inseparable from our 10 year old daughter. She sleeps
with her every night and is exactly the kind of dog she was looking for. She
barely ever barks and what a lap dog. She will sit in your lap for hours and
never move. Very content to be held.
Our
other dog Sasha and Lexi get along wonderfully as you can see from the picture.
Aspen
was truly one of the hardest mill dogs we had gotten into rescue. He was one
of the last mill dogs we had gotten from the WI Humane Societies buy out of the
Haven puppy mill. Time didn't break down his shyness.
He had been with us for about 10 months when our wonderful volunteer, Kathy Pobloskie, decided he would be her next project. Every dog Kathy took under her wing blossomed into the best dog they could be but I wasn't sure what she could achieve with Aspen. Kathy taught him how to walk on a leash. It took patience and a lot of peanut butter. Many days I would see Kathy and Aspen doing circle after circle in the parking lot. Kathy said to took along time before he could do straight lines and she make fast progress when she walked him with another dog. On rainy days she would take him for car rides which he loved. She took him for sleeps over and eventually he rarily came back unless she was going out of town but she was not in a position to adopt him. At this point Aspen had been with us for 1 year and 3 months.
Kathy
was going on vacation she asked if instead of bringing him back to rescue if he
could stay with friends of hers who were experienced at fostering. They only
had Aspen a week and they made the decision to adopt him. Thanks to Kathy,
Aspen has gained confidence to go places and do things that a year ago would
have put him in a panic. It certainly took a long time to find a happy ending to
Aspen's story and like a child it sometimes take a village to save a rescue
dog. I would like to thank Victoria Wellens (who has since passed) who
negotiated the entire buy out which saved the lives of over 1,500 dogs. The
wonderful staff at WI Humane Society, who worked longer and harder in caring for
and placing those dogs, then anyone will ever know and to Kathy for being
Aspen's angel.
Wilbur is doing well and is very loved. He was a little shy at first but quickly turned into a extremely playful puppy. Thanks for letting us adopt him, we adore him. He's even growing on our other dog.
Panda and Patsy: Which one was the timid one????? This is 24 hours after being with us. A match made in heaven! Thank you so much for both of these treasures. We couldn't be happier. By the way...the "timid" one is the one cuddled up to Greg. Their names are now Payton and Halas - sorry you Packer fans. Anyway, the "timid" one is Payton. Thanks again, Celia
Bridgette is now coming out of her cage on her own and walking up three steps into the kitchen all by herself! This picture (along with her friend Tulip) was taken the first time she did this. But now she does it whenever her family is in the kitchen.
Barley, the little Poodle mix, from the 9/08 dog auction has an update. His new name is Barley and was just neutered. His owners Beth and Brett call him the perfect dog.
T.J., the Bichon Frise, was the rescue that was going blind and needed cataract and knee surgery. We raised almost $3,000 from our fundraiser in April of 2008 for his surgeries. He found a great home with Gail who walks T.J. (his favorite sport after eating) a few times a day. He recently stayed with Patti while Gail went on vacation. T.J. Fell right back in to his old routines of telling Patti when he should get his eye drops as well as many other demands that involved food.
